Tape 'proves bin Laden's deputy is still alive'

By David Rennie in Washington

12:01AM BST 11 Oct 2002

A tape recording by Ayman Zawahiri, al-Qa'eda's second in command, offers the first evidence that the Egyptian militant survived an Afghanistan airstrike that killed his wife and badly wounded him, it was reported yesterday.

The tape, broadcast on Tuesday by the Arabic satellite television channel al-Jazeera, was genuine and made in recent weeks, senior Bush administration officials said.

It warned America and other nations to "leave Palestine and the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and the rest of the land of Islam, before they lose everything".

Zawahiri, 52, is believed to be al-Qa'eda's chief planner. There were reports he was badly wounded in an air strike last winter. However, this week's tape refers to recent terror attacks, officials said.

It could be "an effort to rally the troops", one unnamed senior intelligence official told the Washington Post.

An explosion that ripped through the French supertanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen at the weekend was a deliberate act, a preliminary inquiry has concluded. The findings appear to confirm fears that al-Qa'eda had targeted the Limburg.